Hey guys (and gals). I've posted here before and I have a few more questions.

 

Would I get any benefit out of using 10K RPM drives such as WD Velociraptors?

 

I know that everything is limited by network speed, but I'd like to get the parity up faster. I want to use it for a network file server for 10-20 users because of it's ease of setup and that it just works. I've been playing with FreeNAS but it just doesn't seem to be as polished as unRAID. Especially the support.

 

Most files traveling across with network will only be around 20-50MB at a pop, but there will be several users accessing this data simultaneously and all day.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Why use unRAID over FreeNAS or FreeNAS over unRAID?

Hey guys (and gals). I've posted here before and I have a few more questions.

 

Would I get any benefit out of using 10K RPM drives such as WD Velociraptors?

 

I know that everything is limited by network speed, but I'd like to get the parity up faster. I want to use it for a network file server for 10-20 users because of it's ease of setup and that it just works. I've been playing with FreeNAS but it just doesn't seem to be as polished as unRAID. Especially the support.

 

Most files traveling across with network will only be around 20-50MB at a pop, but there will be several users accessing this data simultaneously and all day.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Why use unRAID over FreeNAS or FreeNAS over unRAID?

 

my thoughts.

 

"Would I get any benefit out of using 10K RPM drives such as WD Velociraptors?"

 

1. If you used the Velociprator for the cache drive.

 

2. If you used it for parity and the most important data drives and you felt that the spindle's size was adequate for your application.

 

 

Now, if you want to boost performance, Put in allot of ram (up to 8GB).

There are some kerel tunings with caching that can be adjusted.

There are some tunings for unRAID md drivers that can be adjusted.

This will yield up to 30MB/s for files under a GB. (possibly faster).

If you want another 2-5MB/s then a raid0 parity/raid1 cache using an areca controller can boost it even more, abliet at the cost of a controller and multiple drives.

 

For small file bursts I hit 50MB/s RAID0 parity while writing to the faster 7200RPM 1.5TB drives.

When the filesize hits 2 & 3GB it slows down to 30MB/s and then around 25MB/s

 

Overall you can burst at 30MB/s with the right tunings.

You can probably handle more throughput with an advanced raid setup on parity and cache.

Why use unRAID over FreeNAS or FreeNAS over unRAID?

Try this thread over at the xbmc forums. FreeNAS versus unRAID as the operating-system for a DIY NAS?

Near the end pages of the thread, after the dust settles, there is a couple of posts summarizing the pros and cons of both systems.